“I’m a major people person. I think that’s part of why I like travelling so much. I really enjoy being with other people, meeting other people, sharing things with other people. Every time I go away and come back I’ve noticed a disconnect between here and anywhere else. There’s this North American mindset that if you haven’t had a job within the last 12 months you’re a failure. We live a culture where even if you have one degree, that’s not enough— you have to get a second degree; you have to have this level of pay; you have to wear this suit to work. There’s this checklist of things that your family can brag about you. People still find value in someone who goes travelling for two or three months, but if you tell someone you’re going travelling for nine months or a year, it’s different. My sister went on a nine-month trip to South America and our grandparents went from being supportive to saying, ‘what are you ruining your life for?’

In other parts of the world, people are choosing to have different kinds of life experiences. You meet people who have been travelling for ten years, and that is their life. It’s what they’ve chosen for themselves. That has really resonated with me. It’s made me reassess my definition of success. It involves changing the questions we ask and the things we say. Trying to change ‘where’s that going to get you in life?’ to ‘what makes you happy?’ and ‘what do you enjoy doing?’

It’s tough, though. There are so many people now who are having these identity crises where they’ve gotten the degree or the job but they hate it. Deciding to be happy and to enjoy what you’re doing guides me the most, as well as a massive fear of regret. Doing what I love is the only way to make sure that doesn’t happen. So whether it looks good, sounds good, pays a lot, whatever—it doesn’t matter, as long as I’m not sitting down the line, thinking, ‘I wish I had followed this other path.’”

Category: People